JOHANNESBURG, 11 August 2009 (IRIN) - Zimbabwe's food insecurity is being eased by private imports but prices remain high, making basic commodities unaffordable to many of the few people who have a job, said the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) Food Security Outlook released on 7 August.

Food security has greatly improved since the 2008/09 season, when nearly 7 million people were receiving food assistance, compared with projections for the 2009/10 period, when an estimated 2 million to 2.4 million people will require aid.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization and UN World Food Programme Crop and Food Assessment Mission forecast the 2009 cereal harvest at 1.3 million tons, compared to 690,000 tons in 2008.

A better harvest, lifting import duties on basic commodities, and the dollarization of the economy have ameliorated food scarcity, the FEWS NET report said. The Zimbabwe dollar, which was fuelling hyperinflation, was discontinued earlier his year.

The use of multiple currencies - South African rand, Botswana pula and US dollar - coupled with the introduction of an across-the-board US$100 monthly wage for government employees in February 2009, has seen market-driven forces providing the impetus to fill shop shelves. Donor organizations are also paying medical staff a US$100 monthly stipend.

According to the Consumer Council of Zimbabwe, in June 2009 the US$100 monthly salary was only sufficient for 20 percent of a family's monthly requirements; even if other essentials, such as health, education, clothing and housing were discounted, it would only cover about 70 percent of household food expenses.

Zimbabwe's economy has been in recession for a decade and around 94 percent of the population are unemployed; many rely on remittances from family members working in neighbouring states or further afield in Britain and the US.


"Between January and June 2009, some basic food items fell by between 30 [percent] and 60 percent, but prices still remain between three and six times higher than the five-year average for June [2009]. Between April and June 2009, maize grain price dropped by 31 percent and maize flour went down by 15 percent," the report said.

"This decline was attributed to both improved supply on the market and the good harvest. In the rural areas, grain prices are even lower than those in urban areas, with grain selling at US$0.17/kg on average, and between two times and three times less than urban prices," FEWS NET noted.

The tax holiday on imported basic commodities has been extended to the end of the 2009, however; should the duty be reimposed, this could mean a "reduced supply of maize-meal on the market lead[ing] to increased prices and reduced purchasing power for market-dependent households."

Between 500,000 and 900,000 of Zimbabwe's urban population are viewed as food insecure, the report said, while "about 1.4 million rural people will not be able to meet their cereal requirements during the 2009/10 consumption year."
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